To testify to the next generation.

As I was taking my baby out of her highchair the other day, I looked into her tiny face and heard these words come out of my mouth, “I am going to share with you the testimonies of the things that God has done in my life and your faith is going to be strengthened because of it...because that is how it works.”

I stopped for a moment and considered these words that seemed to spring out of nowhere. I thought of the times throughout scripture where God tells His people He’s going to do something wonderful and instructs them to, as we see in Joel 1:3, “Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.” Or in Exodus 13:8 “You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’”

I’m not just talking about instruction...instruction is not enough. I’m talking about testifying to the faithfulness, to the praiseworthiness, to the might, to the worth, to the honor of God. I am talking about setting alongside the Truth of scripture the realities of scripture played out in our lives.

I am so convinced of this that I have purposed that throughout my children’s life I will tell them what God is doing in me and for me as we go along; and as they grow, I am going to pray that the Lord provides opportunities for me to tell them how He carried me through loss, how He healed me in illness, how He freed me from sin, how He changed my heart to feel compassion, and how He magnified Himself in marvelous ways throughout every moment of joy and pain and all the circumstances that spanned them. And I am going to purpose to show them things like how to pray your way to peace in times of trouble, and how to lean on Him in time of need, and how to be satisfied in Him when life is altogether unsatisfying, and how to praise Him in times of blessing, and how to stand on His promises in a shifting world.

And their faith will be strengthened because of it; because the testimonies of the Lord lead to things such as joy, hope, courage, awe, understanding, assurance, wisdom, the acceptance of salvation and holiness.

Because God is real and testimonies of Him hold power.

Because He is a wonderful God.